Railway-tie



(No Model.)

A. G. BUDI'NGTON.

' RAILWAY TIE.

Patehted July 26, 1892.

INVENTOI? WITNESSES UNITED STATES ATENT 'OFFlCE.

ALBERT G. BUDINGTON, OF AUSTIN, TEXAS.

RAI LWAY-Tl E.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 479,625, dated July 26, 1892.

Application filed March 3, 1892.

To ail whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT G. BUDINGTON, of Austin, in the county of Travis and State of Texas, have invented a new and improved Railway-Tie, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to improvements in metallic railway-ties; and the object of my invention is to produce a simple and inexpensive t-ie which may be easily secured in a road-bed and to which the rails may be solidly 1 and conveniently fastened and which is also adapted to be used in connection with wooden sleepers, being constructed so that it may be easily placed in position between wooden sleepers without tearing up the rails.

To this end my invention consists in a railway-tie, the construction of which will be hereinafter described and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification,

in which similar figures of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a plan view of arailway-tie embodying my invention, showing in section a pair of rails attached to the tie. Fig. 2 is a broken elevation, partly in section, on the line so a; in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a cross-section on the line y y in Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a cross-section on the line 2 z in Fig. 2, but showing a modified form of base-plate substituted for the base-plate in Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a broken inverted plan of the base-plate. Fig. 6 is a broken sideelevation of one end of the tie-bar. Fig. 7 is a similar view of the opposite end of the tie-bar. Fig. Sis a detail perspective view of one of the locking-keys used to wedge up a rail, and Fig. 9 is a cross-section through the tie-bar on the line to w in Fig. 7.

The tie is provided with a broad base-plate 10, which is fiat on the bottom and preferably tapered on top, so as to reduce its weight without materially weakening it, and at the ends of the base-plate and in opposite edges are notches 11, which are adapted to receive spikes, so that the plate may be conveniently spiked down to the stringers of a bridge or similar structure. Near the center of the base-plate and near opposite ends are slots 12, which at the outer sides have upwardlyconverging walls 13, as best shown in Figs. 3 and 5, which thus form a dovetail slot adapt- Serial No. 423,606. (No model.)

ed to receive the dovetailed block 14, formed integrally with and on the under side of the chairs 15, these chairs being adapted to rest upon the base-plate. The chairs 15 are adjusted .to the base-plate by dropping the blocks let through the wide inner ends of the slots 12 and then pushing the chairs outward, so that the blocks will slide into the dovetailed portions of the slots.

The chairs are provided on opposite sides and at the top with outwardly-extending ribs 15 and the chairs are held apart and prevented from sliding inward by the tie-bar 16, which is preferably grooved near the bottom and onopposite sides at 17 to decrease its weight, and the tie-bar has near opposite ends shoulders 18, which are adapted to abut against the inner ends of the chairs 15. The prolonged upper portions 19 of the tie-bar extend through grooves in the tops of the chairs 15, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and the tops of the chairs and the top of the tie-bar are flush. The prolonged end portions 19 of the tie-bar are recessed, as shown at 20 and 20, the shorter recess 20 being adapted to hold a singlerail and. the longer recess 20 two rails. The side walls of these recesses are made to extend inward over the recesses, thus forming dovetailed walls, as shown at 21 in Figs. 6 and 7, and at the outer portion of the recesses 20 and the inner portion of the recess 20 is a dovetailed recess 22, this being produced in the floor of the recess 20, and the outer wall 21 of this recess juts inward, so as to fasten a key in place, as described below. The inner wall of the recess 22 is coincident with the inner wall of the recess 20. The chairs 15 are cut away, as shown at 23 and 24 in Fig. 2, the recesses being made to exactly correspond with the recesses in the tie-bar, so that the rail 25 and its binding-key may be securely fastened to both the chairs and the tie-bar. A binding-key 26 is used to fasten the rails 25, there being akey for each end of the tie, and the keys are adapted to fit snugly in the recesses 22. The keys are reduced at the ends, so that they may be easily entered, and each key has an inclined wall 27, adapted to fit snugly against the wall 21 of the recesses 22 and the similar wall in the recesses of the chairs 15, and the opposite side of the key has a convex dovetailed groove 28,

so that the upper wall of the groove shall fit over the flange of a rail, as shown in Fig. 2, and the lower wall of the groove shall fit beneath the wall 21 of the tie-bar and the similar wall in the recess 24 of the chair. The key 26 has at one end a depending flange 29, which prevents it from being pushed too far inward, and at the opposite end it is perforated, as shown at 30, so as to receive a fastening-bolt 31, which bolt has a nut 32 at its lower end, and the side of the nut abuts with the side of the chair, so that it is prevented from turning.

In practice the tie is made with the recess 20 to hold a single rail at each end, as the wider recesses 2O will only be needed occasionally, as at a switch curve or frog, and special ties with the wider recesses 20 may be made. for such places.

In Fig. 4 Ihave shown a modified form of the base-plate usedin connection with the tie, which base-plate 1O has depending sides to enable it to be firmly embedded in the roadbed. The tie is used like the ordinary tie that is, it is placed. transversely in the roadbed and the rails are fastenedto the chairs and tie-bar in the manner'described above, and frornthe foregoing description it will be seen that the rails cannot work loose, although they may have the necessary longitudinal movement.

To apply the tie to an old track, asleeper may be removed, the base-plate inserted beneath the rails, the tie-bar and chairs adjusted, and-the keys forced in, as described above, and fastened by the bolts 3], so as to clamp the tie securely to the rail.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. A railway-tie comprising a base-plate having slots in the bottom near its opposite ends, which slots have at their outer ends converging walls, chairs having dovetailed blocks on their under sides to fit between the converging walls of the base-plates, said chairs having their upper surfaces recessed to receive the rails, a tie-bar extending between the chairs and secured thereto, and fastening devices to secure the rails to the chairs, substantially as described.

2. The combination, with the base-plate and the detachable chairs secured thereto and having grooves in their upper ends and transverse recesses to receive the rails, of tie-bars extending between the chairs and having their upper portions shaped to enter the grooves, the ties having recesses to register with the chair-recesses, and a fastening device to secure the rails to the tie-bar and chairs, substantially as described.

3. In a railway-tie, the combination, with the movable chairs having dovetailed recesses in their upper surfaces, and thedetachable tie-bars adapted to be secured to the rails and having recesses to register with the chair-recesses, of binding-keys adapted to enter the recesses of the chairs and tie-bars and clamp the flanges of the rails, andmeans for fasten ing the keys in place, substantially as described.

4. The combination,with the recessedchairs and tie-bars, of binding-keys adapted to fit the rail-flanges and to enter the recesses, said keys having flanges at onev end and holes to receive fastening-bolts at the opposite end, substantially as described.

ALBERT G. BUDINGTON.

'Witnesses:

EDWIN BOWEN, R. W. BUDINGTON. 

